


That Rom-com That makes You Cry

by TJB084117



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: BAMF Phil Coulson, BAMF Tony Stark, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Gen, Happy Ending, M/M, Not Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Compliant, Original Character Death(s), POV Phil Coulson, POV Tony Stark, Post-Avengers (2012), Protective Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 12:11:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11463351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TJB084117/pseuds/TJB084117
Summary: It was plain coincidence when Tony saw the unflappable agent went into the cinema.Before long...Mr. Stark turns into Stark then TonyAgent-agent turns into Coulson then PhilThis is just a short story about the relationship between 2 BAMF guys





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> When I started writing, I couldn't stop the idea from flowing. Just slow in the translation and finding the right words.  
> If there's any misspelling, pls let me know. enjoy

He felt a shake on his right shoulder. It was the most amazing nap he ever had and damn whoever was trying to wake him up. He shook his shoulder to detach the shaking. But, instead of stopping, the grip on his shoulder was getting tighter.

“G… Go away DUM-E…” Tony turned away on the comfy chair, moved his right hand around, trying to push away DUM-E’s robotic claw away.

The moment he succeeded in grabbing something on his shoulder, turned out it wasn’t something hard and metallic cold. It felt warm, rough and… It’s a hand?

Slowly, the inventor opened his eyes. Tony let go the hand to cover his eyes since the light was so bright, he almost blinded by it. It was another 10 seconds or so until he got his full vision back. The voice greeted from beside him startled Tony so bad he almost jumped on his seat.

“Good evening, mister Stark.”

Oh right, he’s in the cinema right now. He was following Coulson again to another old cinema, to watch that rom-com, again.

It happened 4 months ago, like two months after the HAMMER drones debacles and a week after he and Pepper decided it was better for them to be just friends.

SHIELD Consultant he may be, but Fury wasn’t his Boss. He got other more interesting projects to do besides helping the one-eyed pirate with Helicarrier project.

Then Nicky boy sent agent agent to babysit him. Again. Yeah, as if he needed babysitting. He’s a fucking grown man.

_Of course, Mr. stark. I’m just here for the 372 free channels._

Tony couldn’t believe the guy. He actually sat on Tony’s couch and asked JARVIS nicely to project ‘Cops’ on Tony’s wall in the workshop. JARVIS, you traitor!

Anyway, he was working on the schematic of Fury’s pet project when he got a sudden craving to eat that beautifully baked blueberry focaccia he found on a small Italian bakery just 15 minutes away from his mansion with car.

Unfortunately, the owner didn’t provide delivery service, so he needed to go there to buy some for himself.

It was pure coincidence when he saw Agent agent walking down the sidewalk. And it was pure coincidence when he followed the man into an old theater, leaving his car still parked next to the bakery.

Imagined how surprised he was that the SHIELD Agent was actually buying a ticket to see an old rom-com. Oh my God, oh My God, Oh my God! Was he about to crash on the guy’s date?

After buying the ticket, Tony put on a baseball hat (yeah, he bought it from a street vendor before stalking the agent. The man’s a super spy, Tony needed to disguise himself) and went inside. The movie had started but, there were not many people on the theater. He saw the slightly receding-haired man sat down alone in the third seat from the top in the middle seat of the theater.

Tony had chose to sit five seats below the agent’s on the left side of the cinema. As far away from the spy but still can watch over the man.

There’s not a single moment when he followed the man that he didn’t see Pepper’s disappointed face, shaking her pretty little head at him.

Shoo, Pepper, shoo.

Tony wouldn’t admit it but the movie wasn’t bad. It was funny and … Ugh romantic. But it wasn’t bad.

It was almost an hour, when the billionaire realized the reason he was in the theater in the first place. Slowly and discreetly Tony look behind his shoulder, eyes slowly landed on the agent.

The light from the screen illuminated the agent’s face. His expression was blank, but tears were running down his face. His shoulders were slightly hunched liked a man that has lost everything with gaze still fixated on the screen.

All of the teasing, planning to make fun of the man for being stood up flew away from Tony’s mind. He couldn’t forget the expression on that man, the expression that portrayed a man that has lost a crucial part of himself. Since then, Tony kept track on the agent’s whereabout via JARVIS and he found out that the man always went to theaters that showed the ‘rom-com’ movie.

Since that time, out of curiosity Tony followed (stalking, his mind mocked) the agent and always sat as far as he could from the agent’s chair and stole a few glances at the older man. Agent Coulson (Tony finally learnt his name) always watch it by himself and cried silently in the middle of the movie.

Today was the 7th time he has followed Coulson, and he felt so stupid that he let himself felt asleep and got caught. Well, it has been a long run. It was a miracle he got this far. And the spy was too melancholy to notice himself being followed.

The agent’s eyes were slightly red minus tear-stained on his face. His expression though, it was dangerously blank, not the ‘my life is over’ blank. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I…”

“Remember.” A smile appeared on Coulson’s face, but his eyes were cold. “I do have miss Potts’ number in my cellphone.

“Uh, I…” Think of something, Tony! You’re a damn genius. You’ve built the first Iron Man in a fucking cave. Say something!

The older man fished out his cell phone from his inside suit pocket. He was about to dial on the phone when Tony blurted out,” You were crying.”

Coulson’s lips pressed into a thin line, mocking the engineer in a flat tone. “I applaud you for your detective’s skill.”

“Okay,” Tony straightened his back on the seat. He massaged his neck when he felt the sudden stiffness. “I was… I dunno. You were sad and it kinda make me…”

The silent was starting to give Tony hibbie jibbies.

In the end, the only thing Tony could say was. “I’m just wondering what could possibly make you… I meant, did you know you?”

He could feel the older man was trying hard to resist an eye roll, and instead he just frowned slightly.

“Well, you know what I mean.” Tony waved his hand around, emphasizing on his meaning. “I’m just saying that it was shocking to see a Badass like you, cried over a romantic comedy.”

The agent just stood there, watching him for a minute before leaving him without any word.

Oh, he’s so screwed.

***

It was funny how screwed he thought he was when Coulson left him in that theater. But, after that, they just went back to their usual thing. He did his work while the agent watched some bad reality tv shows and did some paper works, pretending not to babysit him.

It wasn’t long before Agent agent became Coulson. Their routine changed slightly into Tony critically commenting on the man’s bad taste on tv shows.

“Seriously Coulson. Don’t you have anything else to watch? I mean Supernanny, really?” Tony said mockingly, as he continue typing some codes on the screen.

“I find it amusing.” Coulson said simply.

Giving up, Tony left Fury’s to-do-list and flopped down on the couch next to the agent. He push the man’s shoulder a bit, to allow him a space to sit.

Instead of baffled, the man just looked at him with that calm expression and a hint of amusement in his eyes.

“Your taste… is simply dreadful.”

“You’re supposed to do your homework, Mr. Stark.”

“Yeah, yeah. Quit your yapping. I’m gonna finish that thing later.” Tony cricked his neck. “JARVIS, play us Mission Impossible.”

With a long sigh, the agent informed him blandly,” I’m trying to avoid action and spy movies, Mr. Stark.”

“What,” Tony shrugged. “You’re basically living your life like in the movie. Not many people can say that they spy for a living.”

“And not many people in my line of work get to live a normal life.”

“Yeah, well normal is overrated. Look at me.” He swiveled around to face Coulson on his spot. “I’ve got this shiny light in my chest and I got to save the world because of it.”

“Technically, you only save a part of New York.”

“Potato, potahto.”

“Not everybody wanted to be that special snowflake, Mr. stark.”

“Well, when you are that special, you couldn’t really runaway from it, could you?” Tony watched him seriously, and then gave him a smirk. “You just got to roll with it.”

Tony turned around to watch the start of the movie. He didn’t notice the slight twitch of a smile on Coulson’s face as they sat shoulder to shoulder watching Agent Ethan Hawke doing what he does best. Making the impossible, possible.

***

Disappointed.

That wasn’t exactly what he wanted to feel when Coulson suddenly told him that he has been assigned to another project. He wouldn’t be able to babysit him anymore since after all, Agent Coulson was high on the SHIELD’s chain of command. Tony dug into SHIELD’s files when he was looking for Coulson’s files concerning spouses, in case he did lose somebody. (Until now, Tony’s still perplexed by the agent’s tear-stained look)

“Well, I’m gonna miss you Coulson,” Tony couldn’t hide the truthfulness in his words. He seriously will miss the man. Bantering with the man for almost a year was something he looked forward to every time he saw the older man stood in the living room with folders, and later a box of pizza.

Cleaning some invisible dust off of his impeccable suit, Phil put on his bland smile and he said. “You have my number Mr. stark. You can always call.”

“Well, if you say so.” Tony shrugged.

There was a pause as Coulson put on some paper works back inside some folders and into a cardboard box. Tony fidgeted where he stood, couldn’t stand the stillness in the air besides the sound of papers being shifted around.

With a box full of finished paper works, Coulson turned around facing Tony, observing his expression and body movements. Then he pulled a small genuine smile. “You can call me anytime, Tony.”

The younger man could feel a tug at his heart, and it wasn’t the shrapnel above his heart.

“Within reasons,” Coulson, or Phil continued shortly.

Snapping back out of his daze, Tony unclenched his fist, putting his hand on his hip and smirked playfully. “Well, you know me. I’m a busy guy. Maybe you’re the one who should call me, if you really really missed me.”

Phil didn’t snort because he’s a BAMF, but he did roll his eyes. “Whatever you say, Mr. Stark.”

Tony pulled his bottom lip out, crossing his arms. “I thought we have moved to the second base already and now you’re back to calling me Mr. stark?”

“I learnt from Supernanny that you shouldn’t reward your kids too much for nice behaviour." The older man’s face has turned back into his normal agent face, but there’s no doubt that those eyes were depicting mischief.

Before he could protest, the agent left the younger man speechless with his mouth slightly opening and closing like a fish.

***


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just finished. I'm going to start 'Just Bloody Brilliant' after this. Anybody who've read that work, pls be patient. Maybe it will take a few days for me to post the next chapter.

“You’ve been avoiding me lately,” Tony said as he got off of the metal armor suit.

Phil had welcomed him into the Helicarrier and showed him to a secure room where the billionaire could store his Iron Man suit.

Phil, looked up at Tony from where he was seated on the crate. “I didn’t try to avoid you.”

“Bullshit.” Tony called on him.

“The project demanded a lot of my attention, so…”

“Bull. Shit.” Tony punctuated each word. “You’re running away.”

Phil tried to keep the frustration out of his expression. “I’m still here.”

“No, you’re not.” The inventor looked at him with furious eyes, his back against the wall. “You’re running away from this talk.”

“And here we are talking.” Phil retorted stubbornly, standing up his ground.

“Okay. Let’s talk.” His eyes narrowed at the agent. “You avoided me since I talked you into watching that ‘rom-com’ together with me.”

Suddenly, Phil could feel his throat closing up. He managed to say. “I’m not trying to avoid you.”

“Then tell me, Phil. What is it that scares you so much that you didn’t pick up my call or texted me back after you ran on me when the credit rolled over?”

Phil didn’t know what he could say to defend himself. He just sat there, looking down at his clasped hands. The older agent lifted his head, blinked a couple of times, trying to figure out what to say. “I…”

“Admit it.” Glaring, the engineer moved to stand in front of him. “You’re scared of ‘us’.”

After a minute of silent, Phil breathed deeply and answered truthfully,“… I am.”

Tony’s eyes grew softer, hand hovering over Phil’s shoulder before cupping on his cheek instead. “Phil. Tell me. I have a right to know why.”

He chocked on his breath. “Because I felt as if I had betrayed her.”

“Who?”

“Carrie. Carrie Williams. She... was my girlfriend. I was going to ask her to marry me.”

“What happened to her?”

Phil could feel the tears rolling down his eyes, staining Tony’s hand with his water works. “She was killed by an enemy agent, on her way to meet me. We were going to watch that movie.”

He could feel his heart pounding and the pressure in his chest, squeezing and squeezing so hard, he felt almost numb. “After the movie, I was going to propose to her at a restaurant.”

Phil felt arms around him, embracing him deeply. He clung to Tony’s waist, held him and for the first time since he lost her, he let go. He heard the soft whines and sobs out of his lips, muffled onto Tony’s shirt.

After some time, reminding himself of the Loki problem, Phil let Tony go. He tried to get himself together and Tony helped to wipe his tears.

“So, you watch that movie just to torture yourself?” His words was harsh and Phil couldn’t help but flinched a little.

The guilt marring Tony’s face was undeniable.

“Not since I found out you were following me,” he fixed his tie, stopping himself to glean at Tony’s reaction. “You occupied my time.”

After clearing his throat, Tony asked. “So, that was the first time you’ve watched that movie after almost 3 years?”

“Yes.” Phil clenched and unclenched his hand. “And I notice the way you were looking at me during the entire movie. It was very hard to focus my mind on the screen.”

“And then, it suddenly hit me that,” The SHIELD agent felt his throat was suddenly dry. “The movie didn’t bother me at all. My mind was on you.”

“So, you freaked out?” Tony concluded.

With a short nod, Phil informed him,” I felt like… I was betraying her.”

The billionaire moved closer, putting his hands on Phil’s hips. “I like you.”

Dryly, Phil answered. “It’s hard not to notice. You kept undressing me every time we saw each other for the past 2 years.”

Tony’s cheeks reddened slightly at the comment. Faking a cough, he moved his gaze towards the agent and continued. “I can’t compete with the dead and I don’t want to.”

Phil felt a pang in his heart.

The engineer flicked his gaze back towards Phil’s eyes. “But, it’s okay. I think there’s still some space left in here,” grinning widely, his index finger pointed at Phil’s chest. “For me and my ego.”

They were silence for a moment, before the older man grabbed Tony’s hand, pressed those fingers onto his chest and slowly whispered. “After we found the Tesseract, do you want to go watch a movie with me?”

“I thought you never ask.” Tony gave him a wink.

***

Finding yourself being imprisoned by your own best friend wasn’t the first thing Phil wanted to find out after he woke up from his coma. And it’s been 4 months since he woke up, which meant 5 months since everybody (Tony) thought he was dead.

“I need you to be a ghost, cheese.”

“I don’t think that sits well with me, Marcus. The avengers needs a handler.”

“There are fucking weird shits going out there in the world and I will need you to mobilize a team for that.” Fury said, ignoring his friend’s protest.

He put on his mildest look, showing no hint of the turmoils going on inside his mind. The lingering pain from being stabbed through the chest made it a bit hard for him to stop elevating his heart rates.

“The PT doctors told me that you’re getting better. Soon, you’ll be as good as new.” With a slight warning, the one-eyed man told him. “The Avengers didn’t know you’re alive. Let’s leave it that way.”

Coulson showed his old friend a small smile, but his tone didn’t hint any warmth. “Understood, Director.”

After being left alone in his hospital room, he pretended to rest his eyes as he began planning his escape.

***

Phil knew that he wasn’t in his best condition when he managed to slip through outside his hospital room. Luckily, there was no video monitoring him in his room, so he could motioned his escape plan.

With a help from the shower head he stole from the bathroom and his infusion set, he incapacitated two agents that had been asked to stand guard in front of his room. He grabbed two plastic chairs from his room, positioned their bodies in a sitting on guard position with arms crossed over their chest.

Hopefully, they haven’t rewind the video feeds. He calculated that he got at least 5 minutes to go to the receptionist desk, avoid the moving CCTV cameras on several spots in the hospital’s corridors, before the security notice something strange.

Since this was a SHIELD hospital, one with less security (thank goodness), but unlisted in SHIELD’s database, Fury thought it was safe to put Phil in this med facility since Tony wouldn’t find it while hacking into SHIELD. He just didn’t count on Phil’s rebellions.

In the end, he managed to incapacitate the nurse with a pinch to her sensitive nerves, used the computer and sent an email to Tony’s private account that will surely be monitored closely by JARVIS.

Soon, the jig was up. The security and some nurses and doctors managed to corner him and escorted him back to his hospital room. Phil put up a fight on the way and it was a long fight. Since they didn’t want to injure him further, they succeeded in injecting him with a mild sedative.

Phil’s body has been trained with many kinds of drugs to build his immune in case he was caught while on missions, but with his recovering from life-threatening injuries, he was immediately succumb to the land of dream.

It was but a moment, but he felt jolted out of his dreams. There was a faint sound of glass smashing and people shouting. He managed to open his heavy eyelids. He saw the look of surprised and scared among the security guards, doctors and nurses’ face in his room. Among them was Fury, who probably was on his way to meet Phil. The look of shock and anger marred his expression.

“STARK, EXPLAIN.” There was an underlaying fury under his old friend’s tone. Ha ha Fury, pun so unintended.

“Phil,” he could hear the underlaying threat in Fury’s voice.

Ups, did he just said that out loud? He guessed the drug was more effective than he thought.

“That’s so true, sweetheart, “ he heard a broken voice from above him. He forced himself to stay awake and looked up.

It was Tony without his faceplate on. Phil could see the red sunken eyes and black lines under his eyes. His cheeks were rather hollowed and the man was in his armor and Phil was really out of his wits since he didn’t realize that he was being held in a princess hold. A small smile tugged on his lips. “You've my email?”

The shaky nod he received was the answer.

“Agent Coulson, report.” Fury barked. “I demand an explanation to…!”

The next thing he knew, there was a loud sound ringing near his ears. The recovered man, put both hands on his ears, flinched at the loud noise. He looked at the opposite side, noticing a black crumbled hole in the wall behind Fury.

It came from the Iron Man’s repulsor. The billionaire was wearing a scorned look on his face and he looked dangerously calm. Phil swooned a bit from the butterfly in his stomach.

“Everybody out.” The order slash threat coming from Tony made everybody scrammed from the room, except Fury whom stood his ground. “I’ll deal with you later, liar liar pants on fire. Don’t for a second think I won’t fire at your lying face.”

Tony was serious and Phil thought that Fury wasn’t going to budge, but soon he saw the man walked out of the door, closing it with a loud bang on his way.

Always went with a bang, that old friend of his.

Looking back at his unofficial lover, Phil told him on point. “You looked horrible. So, I guess that means you miss me?”

Chocking on his breath, the inventor lowered his head, planting his lips on Phil’s forehead. If he lingered for a bit, Phil didn’t protest at all. He needed this connection as much as the billionaire.

The inventor put his head on Phil’s hair, breathing on his essence. “You have no idea.” He croaked. “I’ve been watching ‘you’ve got mail’.”

“You did?”

He nodded without lifting his head to gaze into his eyes. 

“Did you cry?”

Huffing, Tony’s voice came rather croak. “Now, I guess I know how you felt all those years ago.”

The sedative has come back with a vengeance because he could feel his consciousness slipping away. “Let’s watch a new movie.”

“It’s a date.” Tony pasted a happy trembling smile on that broken expression of his.

“It’s a date.” Yawning a little, Phil told him sleepily. “I think I’m going to sleep now, honey. I leave Fury to you.”

An evil grin spread upon his face, eyes full of rage and mischief. “I’ll be glad to handle him.”

Cupping Phil’s face gently, he pressed a kiss onto his lips. “And I got 5 more back-ups on their way to help me tear some new holes into him.”

With that, Phil fell asleep, happy and satisfied after seeing the man who held a spot in his heart, he welcomed the darkness. He knew that the next time he opened his eyes, it would be to look into a pair of brown eyes.

***


End file.
